After 40 years, Theodore Glenn Williams -- mentally ill killer of two girls -- claims he is well enough to be released

ALLEGAN COUNTY — As he approaches 70, Theodore Glenn Williams insists he isn't the same disturbed man who kidnapped and killed two girls in the late 1960s.

After four decades in mental institutions, he said he now grasps the pain, the horror, he caused.

Laura Jo SutliffeSonya Santa Cruz

"There's not a day goes by I don't think about what happened," he said Friday in an interview with The Press. "The two little girls, you know, they never hurt anybody. I'd do anything in the world if I could bring them back. It's a terrible case, no two ways about it."

But the injustice, Williams said, extends beyond what he did to Sonya Santa Cruz, 7, of Grand Rapids, and Laura Jo Sutliffe, 13, of Sparta.

Williams thinks he is unfairly held under a long-repealed law, the Criminal Sexual Psychopath Act, and should be released from the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ypsilanti because he no longer poses a danger.

Soon, he will return to a West Michigan courtroom in a bid for freedom and to settle here. The hearing used to be an annual rite for Williams, but he gave it up 12 years ago after repeated rejections.

"I'm not the same person I was 40 years ago," he says.

Still considered a threat

Police, prosecutors and survivors consider Williams dangerous, no matter his age or treatment. A federal appeals court ruled a year ago he has a "mental abnormality that creates a likelihood of future violent conduct."

"You get people like that, they just never change," said retired state police Detective Robert Golm, who arrested Williams. "As long as we keep him there, by golly, you prevent another tragedy as far as I'm concerned."

The proceeding to determine whether Williams should go free is similar to a trial and will be in Allegan County, where one victim was found. A date has not been finalized.

Allegan County Prosecutor Fred Anderson is awaiting an independent review of Williams' mental status. He would not disclose contents of a recent report, but said it showed Williams should not be released.

Courts have determined Williams is "still a menace to society, still a danger out there. There are two kids that are dead," Anderson said.

Case not so unique

For many years, Williams was believed to be the only person held under the old sexual psychopath statute, but there is at least one other.

Under that law, Williams is entitled to annual reviews. He quit the process in 1996 after continual denials by Circuit Judge George Corsiglia.

TWO YOUNG VICTIMS

Theodore Glenn Williams pleaded guilty to murder in the second case:

Sparta, June 1966: Laura Jo Sutliffe, 13, was outside her home in when Williams approached, asking for directions. She was taken at knifepoint and missing for nearly 18 months. Williams led police to the girl's body in Newaygo County.

Grand Rapids, September 1967: Sonya Santa Cruz, 7, disappeared while walking home from Stocking Elementary School to retrieve a book. She was missing for three weeks before horseback riders found her partially buried body in northeast Allegan County.

Williams eventually turned his efforts to higher courts, unsuccessfully arguing his civil detention under the repealed statute, or the state's updated state mental health code, violated his right to equal protection.

"The fact is, whether you commit an outrageous crime or an innocuous crime, you're entitled to due process," his appeals attorney John Shea said earlier.

Knifepoint abduction

The unending legal battle began after Laura Jo Sutliffe was abducted at knifepoint in June 1966 in front of her home. Her disappearance devastated her family and created fear in the community.

Laura Jo was still missing when Sonya Santa Cruz was taken the next year walking home from Stocking Elementary School. Three weeks later, horseback riders found Sonya's partially buried body near Wayland.

Williams, a house painter, inadvertently buried his estimate book with her school work, under her body.

Golm, the detective, went to see Williams. What took so long? Williams asked. He confessed, Golm asked if he did anything else.

"Yeah, I got the girl from Sparta."

He led police to Laura Jo's body in Newaygo County.

Williams pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Sonya's Santa Cruz's killing. Before sentencing, he was designated a criminal-sexual psychopath, and committed indefinitely to Ionia State Hospital "until there are reasonable grounds to believe" he recovered enough "that he will not be a menace to others."

The statute was repealed in 1968. Five years later, Williams and 1,200 others were free. Golm was outraged. He badgered prosecutors until charges were filed three months later in Allegan and Newaygo counties.

Williams pleaded guilty again in Allegan, this time to second-degree murder, but the state Supreme Court tossed the conviction and said he should be held under the psychopath statute.

Charges in the Sutliffe case were quietly dropped in Newaygo County, reportedly over trial costs.

Killer blames abuse

On Friday, Laura Jo's mother, Doris Sutliffe, baked six batches of Christmas cookies. She doesn't like to think about Williams.

"We don't expect him to be out," she said.

Williams contends an abusive childhood led to troubles as an adult, but once testified he no longer was a danger.

"Because I don't -- I don't have that rage toward people anymore. I don't hate people anymore. Through growing up, I hated my parents, I hated my mother, I hated my dad. I hated the world, hated myself. I think the crime was that I didn't have the guts enough to kill myself, you know, to destroy myself."

In the telephone interview with The Press, he said: "That anger's gone now. It's a crying shame we couldn't catch it before it happened."

Williams has sisters in Byron Center and Grand Rapids and said he could live with one of them.

He figured he had a chance with his case no longer assigned to Corsiglia, the judge who rejected previous attempts at freedom, but it will likely be assigned to Kevin Cronin, who defeated Judge William Baillargeon in November elections.

He doubts Cronin will want to release a child killer on his first days on the job.

"How can I prove I'm not a danger to society, and I can be an asset to society when nobody's going to give me a chance?"

But his honesty could be considered less than reassuring.

"I'm not a threat to anybody, yet I can't give a 100-percent guarantee because nobody can give a 100-percent guarantee. I know myself I'm not a threat."